Lisa Opie

Managing Driector, UK Productions
BBC Studios

Lisa Opie is the Director of Factual for BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial TV production arm that creates many of the UK's most successful shows, including Planet Earth II, Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who and Top Gear.

Lisa leads BBC Studios' factual teams, working with the creative leads, production management and business teams to enable BBC Studios to deliver and grow its world-class content, across Natural History, Science, History, Arts, Documentaries, Features and Daytime. Its factual programmes, such as Big Blue Live, Attenborough And The Giant Dinosaur, Life and Death Row and Horizon are renowned for their quality and loved by audiences around the globe.

Lisa was previously Controller of Business for Factual & Daytime, responsible for all business activities across Factual and Daytime from production management through to business affairs and commercial strategy, working with both independent production companies and BBC in-house production.

Before joining the BBC in 2013, Lisa was Managing Director of Two Four Digital, where she helped create digital channels and content for brands, broadcasters and businesses keen to engage audiences on multiple platforms. Previously she was Managing Director of Content at Channel Five, responsible for the creative and editorial strategy for Five’s family of channels, and Managing Director of Flextech Television, a former partner with the BBC in UKTV.

BBC Studios is a £400 million business with around 1600 staff. It launched as a commercial business in April 2017, able to make programmes for other UK and international broadcasters as well as the BBC, to support the BBC’s public service mission and generate financial returns for licence fee payers. With bases across the nations and regions of the UK, BBC Studios reflects and represents diverse voices and creative talent from all around the country.

Lisa reports to Mark Linsey, the Director of BBC Studios and is also a member of the BBC's wider Leadership Group.